The present description is provided with reference to the filtration of liquids such as fuels or oils for applications in vehicles or industrial machinery. However, the invention is also applicable to the field of the filtration of fluids in general, including liquids such as water and gases such as gases for medical use.
As is known, in internal combustion engines having any kind of fuel supply, there is a known method of including a filter in the conduit supplying fuel to each injector of the engine. This filter is also used in systems for supplementing the fuel with additives such as urea, the product known under the trade name of Eolis, or other additives for reducing NOx emissions. This is done in order to arrest and capture any impurity present in the fluid (fuel or additive, for example) circulating in the conduit before it reaches the injectors, as this could cause known problems: for example, in a diesel engine, the injectors might become partially blocked, resulting in imperfect combustion of the fuel and the consequent discharge of fumes with a high content of unburnt particles from the system concerned.
A similar problem, namely the presence of impurities in the circulating fluid, is present in braking systems, particularly those of the ABS type, said problem being resolved, as in the aforesaid systems for supplying fuel to injectors, by placing filters in the brake fluid conduits to capture the aforesaid impurities.
Finally, problems with impurities have also been present in the oil of transmission systems (in dual-clutch transmissions, for example), where the aforesaid impurities could interfere with the correct operation of the gearing, thereby preventing the safe and correct use of the vehicle or device comprising this system.
Similar problems are present in supply lines for the circulation of gases, such as gases for medical use (oxygen, for example) or other fluids (such as water), where the fluid is required to be particularly pure for the purposes of its use downstream of the filter (for example, during the production of beverages such as beer).